Gps for telephone line records

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are disclosed for enhancing telephone line records with Global Positioning System coordinates. One embodiment acquires Global Positioning System information associated with a telephone number. This embodiment uses the Global Positioning System information to create a telephone line record for a telephone number. The Global Positioning System information describes latitude, longitude, and elevation associated with the telephone number. The Global Positioning System information, for example, could define the location of a customer&#39;s service address, a service terminal, a cross-connect box, a wire center, and/or a central office.

[0001] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document and itsfigures contain material subject to copyright protection. The copyrightowner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of thepatent document or the patent disclosure, but the copyright ownerotherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application relates to the commonly-assigned U.S.application Ser. No. 09/946,405, entitled “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORASSEMBLING TELEPHONE LINE RECORDS,” filed Sep. 4, 2001, and of which the“Brief Summary of the Invention” and the “Detailed Description of theInvention” sections are incorporated herein by reference

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] 1. Field of the Invention

[0004] This invention generally relates to computers and totelecommunications and, more particularly, to methods and systems forcreating a telephone line record including Global Positioning System(GPS) information.

[0005] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0006] Most residential and business telephone customers are connectedto a telecommunications network by cables and wires. The cables andwires include the familiar one or more telephone lines installedthroughout nearly every home in the United States. Because cables andwires connect most homes and many businesses to the telecommunicationsnetwork, the Public Switched Telephone Network includes billions ofcables and wires. Each of these cables and wires must be maintained toprovide superior communications service to the customer.

[0007] An accurate telephone line record is desirable when maintainingthese cables and wires. A telephone “line record” describes a customer'stelephone service, the condition of the telephone system physicalfacilities serving the customer, and the telephone equipment installedat the customer's residence or business. When a customer calls to reporta problem, accurate telephone line records help identify the problem andhelp speed resolution.

[0008] A telephone line record, however, may have an incorrect, or anincomplete, address location. If the telephone line record is incorrect,then a technician struggles to locate the customer and the facilitiesserving that customer. When the address is incorrect, time and effort iswasted trying to find the correct service address and the facilities. Ifthe technician had a precise address, the technician could respondquicker and resolve the customer's concern.

[0009] There is, accordingly, a need for accurate telephone linerecords, a need for methods and systems that provide a more preciselocation of a customer's service address, a need for methods and systemsthat provide a more precise location of the telephone plant facilitiesserving the customer, and a need for methods and systems that quicklyand easily correct telephone line records.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The aforementioned problems are reduced by a Line RecordAssembler Module. The Line Record Assembler Module comprises computerprograms and computer systems that utilize Global Positioning Systeminformation to improve telephone line records. When a customer reports aproblem with their telecommunications service, this invention usesGlobal Positioning System information to accurately locate thecustomer's service address. This invention also uses the GlobalPositioning System information to accurately locate thetelecommunications facilities serving that customer. Because the serviceaddress and the facilities are located using Global Positioning Systemcoordinates, a technician quickly and precisely locates the customer andthe facilities without using ancillary systems that require line recordinputs to derive the waypoint. When the technician quickly locates thecustomer and the facilities, this invention allows for faster repairs ofthe telecommunications network. A fast repair also improves thecustomer's satisfaction with their telecommunications service provider.

[0011] One embodiment of this invention describes a method for enhancingtelephone line records with Global Positioning System information. ALine Record Assembler module communicates with a network, gathersvarious types of information, and assembles this information into a linerecord. A “line record” describes a customer's telephone service(s), thephysical facilities serving the customer, and the service address of thecustomer. The line record, for example, may include at least one of thefollowing types of information: a listed name for the customer, aservice address, a location for the customer, working conditions at theservice address, a class of service, listing information, port statusinformation, and location route number. The line record could alsoinclude a cable and a line pair serving the customer, F1 and F2 linesserving the customer, a cross-connect box serving the customer, aterminal serving the customer, and even one or more utility polesserving the customer. The line record could also include a universalservice order code, a terminal address, and a remote terminal servingthe customer. The Line Record Assembler module communicates with anetwork and acquires at least one of the following: customer serviceinformation associated with a telephone number, facility informationassociated with the telephone number, telephone equipment informationassociated with the telephone number, and Global Positioning Systeminformation associated with the telephone number. The Line RecordAssembler module combines the customer service information, the facilityinformation, the telephone equipment information, and the GlobalPositioning System information into a line record for the telephonenumber. The Global Positioning System information may include alatitude, a longitude, and/or an elevation that helps locate thecustomer and the telecommunications facilities serving the customer.

[0012] Another embodiment describes an alternative method for enhancingtelephone line records with Global Positioning System information. Awork order is dispatched, with the work order describing a reportedproblem with a telecommunications network. The work order is associatedwith a telephone number and comprises Global Positioning Systeminformation retrieved from a database. The Global Positioning Systeminformation is used for locating at least one of i) a service addressassociated with the telephone number and ii) a telephone plant facilityassociated with the telephone number. Updated Global Positioning Systeminformation is received, with the updated Global Positioning Systeminformation describing the actual location of the service address and/orthe telephone plant facility associated with the telephone number. Theupdated Global Positioning System information is then stored in thedatabase for future uses.

[0013] Still another embodiment describes a computer system forenhancing telephone line records. The system has a Line Record Assemblermodule stored in memory. The Line Record Assembler module acquiresGlobal Positioning System information associated with a telephonenumber. The Line Record Assembler module uses the Global PositioningSystem information to create a telephone line record for the telephonenumber. A processor communicates with the memory and executes executableinstructions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of thisinvention are better understood when the following Detailed Descriptionof the Invention is read with reference to the accompanying drawings,wherein:

[0015]FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams illustrating one embodiment of aLine Record Assembler Module according to this invention;

[0016]FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of theLine Record Assembler Module according to this invention; and

[0017]FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing one method of assembling a telephoneline record according to this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018]FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams illustrating one embodiment of aLine Record Assembler Module 20. The Line Record Assembler module 20 isa computer program that acquires information from a network 22 and usesthis information to construct a line record. A user at a user computer24 issues a request 26 for a line record. The request 26 for the linerecord is communicated over the network 22 to the Line Record AssemblerModule 20 using TCP/IP protocol or any other computer communicationsprotocol. The Line Record Assembler Module 20 operates within memory 28of a computer system 30. The computer system 30 is shown as a server 32.The request 26 for the line record also contains informationrepresenting a telephone number 34 for which the line record is sought.The Line Record Assembler Module 20 receives the request 26 for the linerecord and then requests information to assemble the line record.

[0019] The Line Record Assembler Module 20 retrieves Global PositioningSystem information. The Line Record Assembler Module 20 issues a request36 for the Global Positioning System (GPS) information. This request 36for the Global Positioning System information includes the customer'stelephone number 34 and is communicated over the network 22. The request36 for the Global Positioning System information, the service address,and the telephone number 34, is received by a Global Positioning System(GPS) database 38. The Global Positioning System database 38 storesGlobal Positioning System information associated with the telephonenumber 34. The Global Positioning System database 38 retrieves GlobalPositioning System (GPS) information 40 associated with the telephonenumber 34. The Global Positioning System information 40 is thencommunicated over the network 22 to the Line Record Assembler Module 20.The Line Record Assembler Module 20 acquires the Global PositioningSystem information 40 and then uses the Global Positioning Systeminformation 40 to construct a telephone line record.

[0020]FIG. 2 shows a telephone line record 42. After the Line RecordAssembler Module 20 acquires the Global Positioning System information40, the telephone line record 42 is assembled. The Line Record AssemblerModule 20 uses the Global Positioning System information 40, and otheracquired information, to construct the telephone line record 42. Thetelephone line record 42 is then communicated over the network 22 to theuser at the user computer 24. Because the telephone line record 42contains the Global Positioning System information 40, the user, whethera technician, customer representative, or other person, may quickly andprecisely locate the customer's address and associated facilities.

[0021] The Global Positioning System information 40 is preferablylatitude, longitude, and elevation. The latitude, the longitude, and theelevation (or height) would help technicians precisely locate theservice address and the facilities associated with the telephone number.If, for example, the customer's service address is on the twentieth(20^(th)) floor of a high-rise apartment building, the latitude, thelongitude, and the elevation allows the technician to quickly andprecisely locate the customer and the facilities serving that customer.The Global Positioning System information 40, therefore, could describethe location of the customer's service address, a terminal serving thecustomer, a cross-connect box serving the customer, and/or a centraloffice serving the customer. The Global Positioning System information40 could also describe a wire center and a turf associated with thetelephone number 34. The Global Positioning System information 40 couldalso describe one or more allocation areas within the turf, and the oneor more allocation areas would also be associated with the telephonenumber 34. The Global Positioning System information 40 couldalternatively be expressed in any x, y, and z coordinate value (such asfeet, meters, miles, or kilometers). The Global Positioning Systeminformation 40 could also be expressed as position, velocity, and timecoordinates, however, latitude, longitude, and elevation are morereadily understood. Because the principals of satellite-based navigationare well understood, the Global Positioning System will not be furtherdiscussed. If the reader desires a more detailed explanation of theGlobal Positioning System, the National Aeronautical and SpaceAdministration offers several tutorials and background papers. Seehttp://leonardo.jpl.nasa.pov/msl/Programs/gps.html.

[0022]FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of theLine Record Assembler Module 20. FIG. 3 shows the Line Record Assemblermodule 20 acquiring additional information when assembling the telephoneline record 42. The Line Record Assembler module 20, for example, mayacquire, via the network 22, customer service information 44, telephoneequipment information 46, and facility information 48. The customerservice information 44 is stored in a Customer Records InformationSystem (CRIS) database 50, and the customer service information 44describes many aspects of the customer and the customer's telephoneservice. The telephone equipment information 46 is stored in a switchsystem database 52, and the switch system database 52 inventoriestelephone equipment and telephone numbers. One such switch systemdatabase 52 is the TELCORDIA™ SWITCH™ system (TELCORDIA™ and SWITCH™ aretrademarks of Telcordia Technologies, Inc., 445 South St., MorristownN.J. 07960, www.telcordia.com). The facility information 48 is stored ina Loop Facility Assignment Control System (LFACS) database 54, and thefacility information 48 describes many aspects of the telephone systemphysical plant associated with the customer's telephone number. Thecustomer service information 44, the telephone equipment information 46,and the facility information 48, however, are more fully described inthe related and commonly-assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 09/946,405,entitled “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ASSEMBLING TELEPHONE LINE RECORDS,”filed Sep. 4, 2001, and of which the “Brief Summary of the Invention”and the “Detailed Description of the Invention” sections areincorporated herein by reference.

[0023]FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing one method of assembling a telephoneline record. This method acquires Global Positioning System informationassociated with a telephone number (Block 58). The Global PositioningSystem information could include latitude, longitude, and elevation(Block 60) for a service address, for a cross-connect box, for a serviceterminal, for a remote terminal, for a hand hole, for a wire center, andfor a central office associated with the telephone number. The GlobalPositioning System information could also include alternative x, y, andz coordinates (Block 62) for the service address, for the cross-connectbox, for the service terminal, for the wire center, and/or for thecentral office associated with the telephone number. These alternativex, y, and z coordinates could be expressed in U.S. Customary and BritishImperial units, such as feet and miles, or in metric units, such asmeters and kilometers. The Global Positioning System information couldalso be expressed as position, velocity, and time measurements (Block64) for the service address, for the cross-connect box, for the serviceterminal, for the wire center, and/or for the central office associatedwith the telephone number. This method could also acquire customerservice information, the facility information, and the telephoneequipment information (Block 66). The Global Positioning Systeminformation, the customer service information, the facility information,and the telephone equipment information are assembled into the telephoneline record (Block 68) for the telephone number.

[0024] If the telecommunications network requires repair, a work orderis generated (Block 70). The work order includes the Global PositioningSystem information from the telephone line record. The work order isdispatched (Block 72) to technician for the repair. When the technicianarrives at the location specified by the Global Positioning Systeminformation, the technician may then verify (Block 74) the accuracy ofthe Global Positioning System information. The technician uses a GlobalPositioning System unit to determine the actual location of thecustomer's service address, the cross-connect box, or any othertelephone plant facility. The Global Positioning System unit could be ahandheld unit, a mobile unit installed within the technician's repairvehicle, or any other apparatus capable of determining GlobalPositioning System information. Once the actual location of thecustomer's service address, or of the telephone plant facility, isdetermined, that actual location is termed updated Global PositioningSystem information. This updated Global Positioning System informationis then communicated back to the telecommunications service provider(Block 76). The telecommunications service provider receives the updatedGlobal Positioning System information and, if necessary, corrects thetelephone line record and stores the updated Global Positioning Systeminformation (Block 78).

[0025] The actual, updated Global Positioning System information ispreferably wirelessly communicated to the telecommunications serviceprovider. After the technician uses the Global Positioning System unitto determine the actual location of the customer's service address, orthe actual location of the telephone plant facility, the techniciancommunicates the actual location to the telecommunications serviceprovider. The technician, for example, could strike a “hot” key on theGlobal Positioning System unit and cause the updated Global PositioningSystem information to be wirelessly transmitted. The technician,alternatively, could use a computing device to determine the differencebetween the Global Positioning System information from the telephoneline record and the technician's actual, updated Global PositioningSystem information. The technician's computing device, for example,could be a calculator, a laptop computer, or a wireless communicationdevice. If the difference exceeds some threshold value, then the actual,updated Global Positioning System information would be wirelesslycommunicated to the telecommunications service provider. When theactual, updated Global Positioning System information exceeds thethreshold value, the technician's laptop computer, for example, would beprogrammed to automatically wirelessly transmit the actual, updatedGlobal Positioning System information. The telecommunications serviceprovider receives the updated Global Positioning System information andcorrects the telephone line record (Block 78) to reflect the actuallocation. The technician, of course, could use a landline telephone or awireless telephone to establish a call with the telecommunicationsservice provider and to audibly provide the actual, updated GlobalPositioning System information. A phone call, however, would be slowerand would introduce opportunities for operator error and forcommunication errors.

[0026] The Line Record Assembler Module (shown as reference numeral 20in FIGS. 1-3), including the methods of the present invention, may bephysically embodied on or in a computer-readable medium. Thiscomputer-readable medium may include CD-ROM, DVD, tape, cassette, floppydisk, memory card, and large-capacity disk (such as IOMEGA®, ZIP®,JAZZ®, and other large-capacity memory products (IOMEGA®, ZIP®, andJAZZ® are registered trademarks of Iomega Corporation, 1821 W. IomegaWay, Roy, Utah 84067, 801.332.1000, www.iomega.com). Thiscomputer-readable medium, or media, could be distributed to end-users,licensees, and assignees. These types of computer-readable media, andother types not mention here but considered within the scope of the thisinvention, allow the Line Record Assembler Module to be easilydisseminated. A computer program product, for assembling a telephoneline record including Global Positioning System information, comprisesthe computer-readable medium and the Line Record Assembler Module. TheLine Record Assembler Module is stored on the computer-readable medium.

[0027] While the present invention has been described with respect tovarious features, aspects, and embodiments, those skilled and unskilledin the art will recognize the invention is not so limited. Othervariations, modifications, and alternative embodiments may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: acquiring GlobalPositioning System information associated with a telephone number; andassembling a telephone line record using the Global Positioning Systeminformation.
 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprisingacquiring customer service information associated with the telephonenumber and creating the telephone line record using the customer serviceinformation.
 3. A method according to claim 1, further comprisingacquiring facility information associated with the telephone number andcreating the telephone line record using the facility information.
 4. Amethod according to claim 1, further comprising acquiring telephoneequipment information associated with the telephone number and creatingthe telephone line record using the telephone equipment information. 5.A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring the GlobalPositioning System information comprises acquiring a latitude and alongitude associated with the telephone number.
 6. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the step of acquiring the Global Positioning Systeminformation comprises acquiring a latitude and a longitude from adatabase of Global Positioning System information.
 7. A method accordingto claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring the Global Positioning Systeminformation comprises acquiring a latitude and a longitude for a serviceaddress associated with the telephone number.
 8. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the step of acquiring the Global Positioning Systeminformation comprises acquiring a latitude and a longitude for across-connect box associated with the telephone number.
 9. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring the GlobalPositioning System information comprises acquiring a latitude and alongitude for a service terminal associated with the telephone number.10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring theGlobal Positioning System information comprises acquiring a latitude anda longitude for a central office associated with the telephone number.11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring theGlobal Positioning System information comprises acquiring a latitude anda longitude for a wire center associated with the telephone number. 12.A method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving updatedGlobal Positioning System information, and using this updated GlobalPositioning System information to correct the line record.
 13. A methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising receiving updated GlobalPositioning System information from a Global Positioning System unitinstalled in a vehicle, and using this updated Global Positioning Systeminformation to correct the line record.
 14. A method according to claim1, wherein the step of acquiring the Global Positioning Systeminformation comprises acquiring an elevation measurement associated withthe telephone number.
 15. A method, comprising: dispatching a work orderdescribing trouble with a telecommunications network, the work orderassociated with a telephone number, the work order comprising GlobalPositioning System information retrieved from a database, the GlobalPositioning System information for locating at least one of i) a serviceaddress associated with the telephone number and ii) a telephone plantfacility associated with the telephone number; and receiving updatedGlobal Positioning System information, the updated Global PositioningSystem information describing an actual location of at least one of i)the service address associated with the telephone number and ii) thetelephone plant facility associated with the telephone number.
 16. Asystem, comprising: a Line Record Assembler module stored in memory, theLine Record Assembler module acquiring Global Positioning Systeminformation associated with a telephone number, the Line RecordAssembler module using the Global Positioning System information tocreate a telephone line record for the telephone number; and a processorcommunicating with the memory and executing instructions.